John Fund: Obamacare Delay Could Doom Immigration Reform Bill

President Barack Obama's decision to delay an Affordable Care Act requirement that businesses with 50 or more workers provide health insurance could help doom passage of the immigration reform bill, political journalist and Newsmax contributor John Fund says.

"[Obamacare] is still the law of the land … [but] just in the last week we've seen three things happen," Fund told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.

"The Obama administration ignored the law in saying the employer mandate is delayed. It announced they're not going to verify income for eligibility for federal subsidies to buy insurance under these changes. And then it said we're going to throw out the formula for calculating how much more insurance companies can charge smokers."

Fund said all of these came without any consultation with Congress, which could make many lawmakers wary of moving ahead on immigration.

"Congress is expected to pass a 1,200-page immigration bill full of waivers and potential loopholes and they're going to trust the Obama administration to enforce the law? I don't think so," Fund said.

"Any administration that is so lawless that it basically says we don't need no stinking laws, as the 'Treasure of the Sierra Madre' went . . .

"You can't trust them to implement it so a lot of Republican members of Congress are saying what difference does it make? We passed a law, they're just going to change it and reinterpret it."

No Republican lawmaker wants to be perceived as a "complete chump," he added.

"It's like Lucy and Charlie Brown on the football. You pass the immigration bill, you tell your constituents you're going to secure the border, and the Obama administration ignores border security and just says we'll get back to you," Fund said.

"I don't think any Republican congressman wants to be in that position of basically being played a fool."

President Barack Obama's decision to delay an Affordable Care Act requirement that businesses with 50 or more workers provide health insurance could help doom passage of the immigration reform bill, political journalist and Newsmax contributor John Fund says.